


23rd Day of Winter - It's the Thought That Counts

by unjaundiced



Series: Winter Spirits [27]
Category: Naruto
Genre: 25 Days of Christmas, 25 Days of Fic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-06 19:31:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5428055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unjaundiced/pseuds/unjaundiced
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi is still a terrible Secret Santa and is not shy about it. Why must it be so hard to actually think of the person you're buying gifts for?<br/>Set the year after Drinking Up The Sun. They're 21 and 22.</p>
            </blockquote>





	23rd Day of Winter - It's the Thought That Counts

Kakashi fiddled with the newspaper-wrapped box for a moment then shrugged and tossed it on the desk. He _hated_ doing this Christmas thing and his Human Biology Lab Science teacher was _really_ into the holiday since she was an American ex-pat. The blasted woman had shown up every day since _October_ with a fuzzy red and white holiday hat on her head for fuck's sake. They should be busy studying for exams, not going out and buying people they didn't like _gifts_ valued at 2500 yen or less. What could you get with that anyhow? A can of character pencils from the nerd store?  
  
Kakashi wandered up the stairs of the theater to his normal seat. If his stupid Secret Santa didn't show up to get the present, then someone else would be the one gifted with a year's supply of shopping coupons clipped from the paper and several sets of complimentary toiletries from the nearest hotel. He didn't really care.  
  
He opened his newest _Icha Icha_ and proceeded to ignore the world so he missed the angry shout of “What the shit is this!” from his surprised gift recipient. Typical foreigner. Couldn't learn to appreciate _anything._  
  
  
"Kakashi? Oi, Kakashi!” Iruka prodded his sleeping friend with a pencil. “Ooooooi.”  
  
"Come on, I know you're faking it.” He poked Kakashi's forehead with the eraser side.  
  
"No, really. Come on.” He poked at Kakashi's temple.  
  
"Kakashi?” He patted Kakashi on the shoulder and shook him.  
  
"You'd better be dead.” He crossed his arms and tapped his foot.  
  
"You suck.” Iruka left.  
  
Kakashi waited a full thirty seconds before he rolled to his side and peeked out, stretching his arms out and yawning, knocking a note off his desk in the process. He raised an eyebrow and looked at his feet where the paper had landed. Curious.  
  
He unfolded it and blinked. Blank.  
  
He turned it over. Blank.  
  
Iruka slapped him on the back of the head and he cringed. “It's blank because you're an idiot and what I have to say to you won't fit on there!”  
  
"Mah, jealous of my genius?” Kakashi drawled, rubbing at the back of his head. “Trying to kill off my brain cells? It won't work.”  
  
"What kind of person gives his _Secret Santa_ recipient a box of _newspaper coupons_ and _hotel toiletries!_ ” Iruka barked, slapping him again. “Are you the world's biggest Scrooge or what!”  
  
"Tch. I'm not a Scrooge, I just don't like Christmas. Or giving people things. And _besides_ , those coupons are good from now to November 31 of next year. I checked. There are ones that last that long.”  
  
Iruka prepared to slap him again.  
  
" _And_ she can wash her hair and hydrate and cleanse her skin for a few weeks for free! It's the same as if I bought her a 2500 yen care package.” Kakashi cringed as the hand dropped.  
  
"Kakashi, I don't even...” Iruka massaged the bridge of his nose. “Kakashi, your Secret Santa recipient was a _guy_. He doesn't want coupons for buy one get 30% off _women's sanitary products._ He doesn't want what are obviously freebies from a hotel. And when did you stay at a hotel anyhow? You're either here, at school, or at the hospital!”  
  
"Mah, there was this one convention,” Kakashi mumbled, scooting his chair out of arm's reach.  
  
"Kakashi... You went to that convention for precisely one hour. How did you even get ten sets of hotel toiletries? _Did you steal it off the housekeeping cart?!_ ” Kakashi shrugged.  
  
"It was just there,” he commented, leaning back just in case there would be more abuse. He frowned when Iruka buried his face in his hands. “Are you crying?”  
  
Iruka shook his head. “You are such an idiot for a smart guy,” he mumbled. “You really are.”  
  
"I thought it's supposed to be the thought that counts.” Kakashi grumbled. “I _thought_ about the Secret Santa thing. I _thought_ about how much I didn't want to do it. I _thought_ about who the person I was supposed to get something for. I didn't know that Robert is a boy's name—” Iruka seriously doubted that—"I _thought_ about how long the coupons would last and I _thought_ the same thing about the hotel toiletries. I thought a lot. If you're going to change the rules, you need to at least put out a memo or shoot me an email. You know I don't keep up with these things.”  
  
"Ugh, Kakashi, I know buying gifts is not an activity you like to participate in,” Iruka pointed out. The other man shook his head in the negative. “But it's not that hard to think of the person you're giving something to.”  
  
"Sounds like work.” Kakashi slouched in his chair and yawned. “I dislike doing work for no reward.”  
  
"The reward is the person's appreciation.” Iruka planted his fists on his hips and straightened. “There rarely is a financial reward unless they choose to return the favour.”  
  
"That guy was an American,” Kakashi complained. “They don't appreciate anything.”  
  
"Robert-san is Canadian. And you shouldn't use stereotypes as an excuse for not thinking about a proper gift!” Iruka threw his hands up in exasperation.  
  
"Canadian, American, same continent. The simple fact remains that I. Don't. Like. Christmas. And I _still_ believe that Santa is a travesty and a horrible excuse for a long-perpetuated lie. I won't be any part of it.” Kakashi crossed his arms petulantly. “And that's final.”  
  
"You... You... Argh! You just get something to fix the situation because Robert-san is really mad about it and your teacher is mad about it! She said you're ruining student morale and she'll have you written up!” Iruka stalked to the door and wrote on Kakashi's dry erase board in huge letters: THINK ABOUT ROBERT'S APOLOGY GIFT. And left.  
  
Kakashi frowned. Stupid American.  
  
  
A week later and Iruka was unwrapping yet another one of Kakashi's odd presents. The crazy man liked to leave him body parts for anything from major holidays to traffic closures to new flavors of ice cream being released. They were always different aside from right-side left-side repeats. Ever since Kakashi had started to visit conventions, some of the models had gotten really weird.  
  
There was never a note attached to any of the packages, but Iruka knew they had to be from Kakashi and he had figured out that the parts had messages all their own though he was never fully certain what they were. Kakashi always denied leaving the packages and had gotten good at feigning surprise and curiosity when asked. Iruka was determined to figure out the mystery one day. But for now...  
  
He unfolded the surprisingly neat tissue paper and stared. A heart model. That was a new one.  
  
Iruka carefully lifted the model out of the box and found himself looking at a septal defect just under the aorta between the meridian of the left and right chambers. He tilted the thing and inspected all the angles. It seemed that the hole was the only major problem, though this model did have some plaque buildup, but nothing major.  
  
He sighed, feeling a little bad. It was apparent that his friend really _was_ trying in his own quirky way and he _did_ think things through. It just took a little picking through the layers and finding what lay underneath. Kakashi was kind of zen in that way.  
  
Still, Kakashi's odd apology aside, there was still the issue of Robert the _Canadian' '_ s re-gift to deal with. Sending the guy an animatronic Lamaze class baby permanently stuck on 'Cry' was _really_ not going to cut it.  
  
Now Iruka was going to have to think of something and he didn't even know what Robert looked like.

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally posted on Livejournal in 2011 as part of the annual 12 or 25 Days of Christmas challenge. The story takes place by years and utilises Japanese honourifics as a necessity. I tried to use canonical names wherever possible and created original character names as needed.
> 
> Due to the conditions at the time, the writing is a bit clunky but will largely remain unedited
> 
>  
> 
>  **Note**  
>  In case you missed it, a serial defect is a hole in the heart, also known as bleeding heart syndrome or bleeding heart disease.


End file.
